Architect Harold Ventimore (Tony Randall) is starting out and struggling to get any business. He buys an antique brass bottle for the Egyptology professor father of his girlfriend Sylvia Kenton (Barbara Eden). Her father is not happy with their impending marriage. He's about to give them the bottle when he notices a similar looking lamp, a Japanese copy. He suspects that his friend is right about his bottle being a cheap knock-off. When he actually gets the bottle open, a genie named Fakrash Al-Amash (Burl Ives) comes out.
It's a cinematic oddity that Barbara Eden would become a cultural icon a year after this as a genie herself. That's a bit of an interesting trivia. Here's the thing about a funny genie story. It has to be a twist. The donkey is probably the funniest one and the visual of a donkey riding in a car is hilarious. Harold complains way too much. When given gold and jewels, he should take it for heaven's sake. Then the funny repercussion can follow. Also Tony Randall doesn't really fit this role. He supposedly was a fun prankster before but he's doing his wet blanket bit. Also this world is not realistic in an annoying way. Nevertheless, it's lighthearted fun and one shouldn't nitpick at this. It's a silly movie.
It's a cinematic oddity that Barbara Eden would become a cultural icon a year after this as a genie herself. That's a bit of an interesting trivia. Here's the thing about a funny genie story. It has to be a twist. The donkey is probably the funniest one and the visual of a donkey riding in a car is hilarious. Harold complains way too much. When given gold and jewels, he should take it for heaven's sake. Then the funny repercussion can follow. Also Tony Randall doesn't really fit this role. He supposedly was a fun prankster before but he's doing his wet blanket bit. Also this world is not realistic in an annoying way. Nevertheless, it's lighthearted fun and one shouldn't nitpick at this. It's a silly movie.